A practical tool to help boost the number of women speakers at charity conferences has been crowdsourced in just over a day. The Great Charity Speakers list presents charity conference organisers with a list of “fabulous, female speakers from the charity sector”.

The list was suggested by Mandy Johnson, who is CEO of the Small Charities Coalition.

On Friday evening she tweeted about the need for more diversity in charity conference speakers, asking for suggestions for a list of “brilliant speakers from the charity sector who are not white & male”.

It has come to my attention that we need to provide conference organisers with a list of brilliant speakers from the charity sector who are not white & male (sorry guys – but they've got you covered in abundance). So, I am pulling together the list for them. Who should I include?

The appeal attracted rapid attention and plenty of replies. Johnson spent the rest of that evening trying to keep up with responses and producing the list. She has published “Great Charity Speakers” and updated it with new suggestions. It now has over 140 names featured.

The value of such a list beyond conference organisers was evidently recognised, given the number of individuals and organisations sharing the request for suggestions:

Side issue that this discussion has raised for me: there is also a need to support great women who have something useful to say in gaining those presentation skills and presentation confidence. Not necessarily to be included in your work but an issue nonetheless.

Thanks. At the moment the list is specific to people who work/volunteer for charities. I am noting down great names from social enterprises privately but these have not been included yet as I want to remain focused. Hope that makes sense?

Plenty of non-male, non-white and actually often young, experienced innovative speakers for conferences are available, so what's the excuse? Yes to adding diversity to the sector 💥 thank you to Mandy for pulling this together! https://t.co/BuPS4h0C50

A useable list

Johnson was careful to acknowledge fluidity in how people define their gender or ethnicity. She has therefore divided her list into two sections:

those “do not identify themselves as white or male”

and those “white people who do not identify as male”

There is currently a dominance of speakers with Twitter profiles but that is more a reflection of where Johnson first asked for suggestions. Other names are being suggested on charity sector Facebook discussion groups.

Johnson told UK Fundraising that she is keen to make the list as useful for conference organisers as possible. She has already divided its members into different skills and areas, to indicate why individuals have been recommended for inclusion.

As a result you can now find women CEOs and founders, finance experts, fundraising experts, service delivery experts, CSR experts, digital and tech experts, and more. Of course plenty of individuals could be listed in multiple categories so Johnson is considering how best to present this.

Some contributors helped in this process by highlighting why people were being recommended:

She acknowledges “It’s not perfect but it is a start” and she adds: “Please help me make it better.” She’s also been careful to build the list herself and not to open it up at this stage to multiple authors, to avoid possible trolls and attempts to damage the initiative.

Other supportive initiatives

The list is novel and should have been produced many years ago. The dominance of male and white speakers at many charity sector conferences has been plain to see.

No more excuses

However, as Johnson makes clear, her list is designed to change and expand the voices, the examples, and the inspiration that charity conferences present.

In introducing the Great Charity Speakers list she explains: “Too many times I am told that it is hard to find good speakers in the charity sector who aren’t male and/or white. I want to rid conference organisers of that excuse.”

Let's make sure "I couldn't find anyone" can't be used as an excuse for not having diversity on stage at our conferences. https://t.co/s9JY60dMZb

About Howard Lake

Howard Lake is a digital fundraising entrepreneur. Publisher of UK Fundraising, the world's first web resource for professional fundraisers, since 1994. Trainer and consultant in digital fundraising. Founder of Fundraising Camp.

Get free email updates

Keep up to date with fundraising news, ideas and inspiration with a weekly or daily email. [Privacy]